


Prompt fulfillment

by Initial_Non-Applicable_ (Top7879)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabbles, Gen, M/M, idk what else i can tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:55:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27813382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Top7879/pseuds/Initial_Non-Applicable_
Summary: These are prompts I did for Alkhale's inktober thing- I'm finally getting around to posting them.Maybe I'll come back around to them at a later date
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. It's still love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alkhale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alkhale/gifts), [assaic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/assaic/gifts).



> Thank you Assaic for beta-ing!!   
> If anyone thinks I'm missing some tags, please tell me- Constructive criticism is welcomed!

Harry didn’t experience what love is growing up. He  _ knew  _ what it was- he saw it in Aunt Petunia’s eyes when she looked at Dudley. He saw it when Uncle Vernon patted Dudley's head- Harry knew about love’s existence- but he didn’t know about all the different forms love could take until he finally experienced himself.

When Harry finally left Privet Drive to Hogwarts, he could finally experience the love he had only seen from afar-from his friends (his  _ family _ ). Harry experienced love in every hug and wave. He experienced love every time Mrs. Weasley put more food on his plate. He experienced it every time Professor McGonagall looked at him with approval every time he raised his hand.

But Harry only learned that there was more to love than just that much later.

Harry  _ learned  _ that it’s still love when Hermione yelled at him for being reckless. That while her body language is aggressive, there is a worry in her eyes.

Harry learned love could be a silent comfort. There was love every time Ron and Hermione sat by him and didn’t speak. Showing their support by acting as what everyone said didn’t matter. 

Through everyone who showed him love, Harry learned how to  _ give  _ it too.

Harry gave people love by passing them pieces of chocolate when they got scared. He gave them love every time he wrote down notes for them when they were stuck in the hospital wing. He gave them love every time he waved hi to them down the hallway. 

Harry loved to give others love.

When he noticed that there was a Slytherin Boy with a look in his eyes - one that said “there is no love here” he knew he had to do something. Harry could recognize the look he had seen in the mirror those few years ago, so he did what others did for him. Harry gave the Slytherin boy some love.

Tom Riddle grew up thinking that he would never truly love. When he was a child, to love was to give some of your food to your loved ones with a smile on your face- but Tom was always hungry. To love was to sit down and help each other with homework and spelling but Tom couldn’t  _ sit  _ with the other orphans for more than a few minutes before he snapped. So no- love was never something Tom thought was a possibility for him. It was something that escaped him even as he grew older and the people around him spoke about “love”. It was fine though, he didn’t  _ need  _ love- it was a burden to love. Tom thought it would be exhausting to love someone- to spend every waking second thinking about someone, to accommodate them in every choice you make.

But then he met Harry, and Tom realized he didn’t fully understand what love was in the first place. 

Harry showed Tom love, and this time Tom actually put effort into loving him back.

It’s still love if you don’t spend every waking second thinking about them. It’s still love even if you yell and argue. It’s still love even if you can’t compromise and it’s still love if you don’t understand the other sometimes. What makes it love is the  _ effort _ you put into keeping yourselves together. To be able to relate and understand the “bad” parts of each other are  _ parts _ of each other.

Harry and Tom did not grow up loved, and learned how to love much later than most do- but they still love each other all the same.


	2. Most afraid of

Tom could say with certainty his worst fear was death. He‘s scared.

Scared of dying and everything he is, ever was, and everything he  _ could be _ lost forever and forgotten into the empty void of time. If he isn’t alive, how will people remember him? If people don’t remember him, did he ever matter at all ? Did he even exist? 

Of course he did. Tom exists in the present, he exists for the future because  _ he will be great  _ (if he’s great he will be remembered- but what if he dies before he gets to that point?)   
  
Harry is not like Tom, or any of his friends really. He’s not scared of what happens after, all Harry knows how to do is enjoy every second in the present-- Tom is too caught up in the consequences. He isn’t scared of spiders: they were his first friend. The first thing that stayed with him in lonely times. Harry isn’t scared of water- he loves to imagine what kind of magical creatures live in the deep dark seas. He isn’t scared of heights, closed spaces, or snakes. 

Harry is not scared of a lot of things- but something he  _ is  _ scared of is if people stop caring about him. 

(They all dragged him into the light of the world from his dark cupboard, he’s here now with wobbly fawn legs. If they leave him now, without support, Harry is scared he’ll be crushed under his own weight. He will survive- he knows he will, but Harry has been through enough  _ pain,  _ why would he want  _ more? _ )

Out of everything in the world, Harry is most afraid of heartbreak.

He’s afraid that all he’s done is not enough for his loved ones. He’s afraid that he is unlovable. Harry is afraid of the heartbreak he’ll have once people realize that he’s not worth it. 

So Harry does all he can- he shows and gives his heart to others hoping he’s enough. 

  
( _ He’s enough. Please let him be enough.) _


End file.
